The first vintage baseball card collector?

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

I recently purchased 2 issues of Hobbies The Magazine for collectors from 1933. The magazines have lots of ads for Coins, Stamps, Rocks, and other Antiques and collectibles including this ad for tobacco cards:

Have you any Fatima cigarette cards, 1913-14, Hassan cards of ball players, Sweet caporal cards of ball players and war scenics. Good exchange.
Fred Schaffer 5 Pine st Whitesboro, NY f12681

Maybe our first vintage collector, interesting he only wanted Sweet Caporal brand backs, Looking for Honus?

interesting brian

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

I've read dozens of early 1960's Hobby Pubs, but never one that old.

I think Jeff Obermeyer can colaborate lots on this subject.


jl

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

maybe they were the only T206s he'd seen. Possible? So he thought all T206s were S.C.

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

Hmmmm...

I think that back in 1933 those T206's weren't considered an antique... (24 yrs since the cards were produced)
Hey, The "Babe" was playing at the time!

And those Fatimas just 20 years older.

It's like buying a 1980 card today... not an antique.

Don't doubt the guy was looking for "the big fish" back then.

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Posted By: Trevor Hocking

I think you might want to check the current phone book to see if Fred Schaffer is a current resident of Whitesboro, NY. Maybe he was the guy who bought the time machine off ebay.

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Thanks Julie
I was hoping someone would ask that question. I've oftened wondered about the distribution of the 16 brands associated with t206's, were they national or regional? Maybe Fred only smoked Sc or maybe that's the only brand they sold at his corner market. We know from population reports that sc& piedmont were by far the 2 most prominent brands, and American tobacco records indicate that Sc & Fatima brands were most popular in Eastern urban cities, while Piedmont dominated the southeast. I wonder where Drum, Uzit, and Broadleaf were popular?
brian

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Posted By: TBob

Careful on the Heads Up cards which look so nice on ebay, Feller, Greenberg, etc, they are reprints. The glue on the back neatly lifted off the tiny word "reprint." Sigh...

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Posted By: Jeff Obermeyer

Hmmm... nothing in my hobby publication library dates form before 1939, but I can tell you that in the back of the 1939 United States Card Collectors Catalog there are about 40 ads for collectors seeking to buy cards/memorabilia. A lot of the big names, too - Burdick, Bray, Lionel Carter...

I also have a copy of Burdick's Card Collectors Bulletin from Aug. of 1939. To the best of my knowledge, the CCB is the first US publication dedicated solely to trading cards. Mine is volume 2, no. 1, so I'm guessing the first issue was published in 1938.

As an interesting aside, the United States Card Collectors Catalog is the original American Card Catalog. Burdick published it and had 500 copies printed. I've seen two on eBay in the past 2 years, including the one I have which I picked up for a whopping $2.50 (it was buried in the wrong category and mis-described - the guy would choke if he knew my high bid was $100).

Jeff Obermeyer

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

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Posted By: Jeff Obermeyer

The letter/number designations which we are all familiar with did not come into existance until the 1946 American Card Catalog. The T206 set is set number 521 in the US Card Collectors Catalog. It is described as follows:

521 - Baseball Series - white borders, Sm.

Sweet Cap., Soverign, Piedmont, Cycle, El Principe de Gales, Tolstoi, Lenox, Polar Bear, Hindu, Old Mill, Hustler, Drums (sic), American Beauty, Broadleaf.

Variously inscribed as Series of 150, 350, 460 or assorted. (521 known).

There was a discussion on the old Full Count board a while back about the mysterious "Hustler" backs, which obviously don't exist for this set. However, the back does appear in the 1939 catalog.

Singles are priced at 2 cents each, and there is no mention of the Wagner or other rarities. There is also no mention of the Ty Cobb back...

Jeff Obermeyer

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Thanks for the info Jeff.
I bought 2 of these Hobbies magazines for only 5.00 a piece, I would be happy to make copies of the ad or your welcome to one of the magazine's for your collection. be well brian